My Special Day -Teacher of the Year

Last Wednesday I had a special day that I have been just so excited about that I have not been able to share it with you yet.  It is so hard to see yourself in any way to be worthy of such a wonderful honor. I was named our Teacher of the Year at my wonderful school.  I just thought I would share my email I sent to my fellow teachers and staff.

 

  It is hard to express in words how honored I am to have been chosen Teacher of The Year here at TCES!  What an honor it is to teach among the most wonderful teachers and staff anywhere!!  I am truly blessed!

   I love teaching!  I love being here at TCES with all of you!!

Since words have escaped me, I have attached one of my favorite little poems.  It should be named: All I Really Needed To Know I Learned In Elementary School!

  I am always in hopes that my fellow teachers feel this same way about this calling that we have all answered in the field of teaching. 
   My sweet friends added this sweet picture to Facebook.

 

 

 

 

Snow Day

     Well, here in the south any form of frozen precipitation can be considered a need for a snow day, we always choose on the side of safety.   I sure did miss my students on Friday!  We moved quickly through our day on Thursday (the 100^th Day) and tried to squeeze in all of my guided reading groups, just in case we were not in school on Friday!

 

  Well... we did not get much snow, just ice.  So I got a chance to spend a little time on a few units I had been trying to find time to get out to meet the needs of my fellow teachers!  I find it so difficult to squeeze this in during the school year! 

   I do often wonder after 27 1/2 years of teaching why my prep time seems to grow each year.  I have finally come to the conclusion that the more knowledge I have, the more opportunities and methods I can try with my kindergarten friends to make them the best they can be!!

I have added my:

5 Senses Unit

    

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/5-Senses-Common-Core-Literacy-Science-Health-and-Math-2345009 

 

Rhyming with Nursery Rhymes Unit

 

 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rhyming-Through-Nursery-Rhymes-2344923 

Splash Day Unit

 

 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Splash-Day-Fun-Filled-Wet-Celebration-2345044 

 

  Please take a look at my new units, I hope they can help make your job a little easier!   We have very demanding jobs.  (Thank goodness it is also the most rewarding and enjoyable job out there!!)  I believe the only way we can help each other is sharing what works for us to help make all of our jobs a little easier!

 

 

 

 

Subitizing

   Subitizing is such a BIG word for my kindergarten friends, or I use to think so.  I am amazed every day by their ability to learn new vocabulary and concepts.  They use the word subitizing or will say "I just know it"!  Makes me so proud of them.
  
   Subitizing - "the ability to instantly see how many"

  We have worked on this all year (from 5 frames to subtraction now) and the more we move along the better at subitizing all of my friends have become.  I really began to see this during our addition unit and now even more during our subtraction unit!
    I am a firm believer that we as teachers MUST begin with all of the basic "building blocks" before we move into the more advanced concepts.  Five frames are a great place to begin!! 
We had such a wonderful time with a little subtraction "snowball fight" last week.  I was able to see how well my friends can subitize.

    (My sweet assistant got to get involved for one of our rounds!  The children  LOVED this!)
   I will be adding my subtraction unit soon on TPT.  As usual, I have to "try out" all of my activities before I complete a unit.  I have been refining this unit for 2 years now I am coming to an end with it.  I hate to give you activities that have not been tried out.  :) It will be a great unit!
Have a great week!
Please hop on over and join my new Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/beccaskindergartencreations/ 

and I have a new Instagram 
@Beccaskindergartencreations

Winter Fun

We are having such a great time with our winter unit!  I just love seeing my kindergarten friends eyes light up as we talk about all the signs of winter.  From making snow putty, to writing how to make a snowman to subtracting.  We are also getting our igloo started tomorrow!  Fun times!  

Here is my fun filled unit!

 

Quick Planning Guide

I have had such a great Christmas vacation!  I have seen my Tigers play and win at the Orange Bowl in the warm Florida sun and sit here now watching my Panthers play from home because my sweet girls have the tickets. 
  As I have been preparing in my mind for our teachers workday tomorrow, I began planning for our team planning session. 
   We have been so lucky to have  2 new teachers join us this year!!  They are awesome! They have only made our team stronger!  As the grade chair, I want to make our team planning sessions more productive and easier as we match our long range plans, standards, exciting themes and much more. 
   I wanted something to help my team plan our guided math, math stations, read alouds and whole group ELA mini lessons.  This is intended to be a planning guide just to help us as we bring ideas to our planning sessions.  I hope this is something that may help you as your team plans.

Click on this picture to get your free download.

 

Feeing Brand New

 Wow!  I feel brand new with my blog's new look.  Thank you to my niece , Alex, for working so hard on all of this for me!  I love the new look!!!  I am going to get started with sharing my ideas and units with everyone again.  I have finally gotten settled into the new school building and have most of my grade chairman responsibilities and etc. in a manageable state. :)  
    We begin class on the 5th of January and are going to spend the  4th planning with my grade level.
    Enjoy your last bit of your vacation before we all begin our 2nd semester with a renewed energy!

Whirl Wind Year

    I can’t believe how fast this year has gone!  It has been so long since I have been on to blog that I don’t even know where to start.  In June most of our staff moved to a new school in our district.  It has been such a unbelievably wonderful whirl wind!!  I spent all summer moving in and getting my classroom ready for my new students.  I have had 25 children and just added my 26^th this week.  I know for some of my teacher friends that is not a large group, but for our district that is the largest I have ever taught in my 27 years. 

  I have a great group; it is just that many children are a lot to do all the great things I like to do with them.  Well, we are somehow finding a way to get most of it squeezed into our days. We are still making great memories and my children are still saying how much they will miss school over each weekend so I guess we are doing something right.

  I have been so busy I have not gotten a chance to get many TPT units on to share, they are all so close, just not ready to be published.  The “fine-tuning” is the part that seems to never get completed.    I will be sharing a few soon.  I have my wonderful proofreader looking over a few right now that I hope to get out to everyone.  I know that some may not help you this year, but I hope they can be a great help in the future.

Sale

Enjoy The Sale!!!!

Sight Word Interactive Books

   I have just added my 46 sight word interactive books that I use in my room for every thematic unit I teach to TPT. I have been using and fine - tuning these books for many years.

   My students love working on these books.  We get them out with our clip boards first thing when they arrive.  We then work on them while waiting on our daily announcements to begin.  They also can color while they listen to the announcements.  Four us this is a great time of day.  We go to our Related Arts right after this time.  There is not much else that I feel like we could complete in this time. 

    I have 1-2 of these in each theme unit I have. I spend 10-15 minutes on these a day. These books are often mentioned in the feedback that is given on my units as being very beneficial to these teachers’ students.

Making Memories

         

           

 

Making Memories

 

Letters of The Alphabet

  I am so excited to share my letter books that we used this year.  There is color book and an interactive letter book for each student for all of the letters included.  I show the color version on my smart board as we discuss the letter.  My students really enjoyed these books.  They actually looked forward to completing each book.  These books reinforce much more than letters.  They are great emergent readers that help the students apply all of the conventions of print.

Fairy Tales

    This have been so busy at school that I have not even had enough time to get the units posted that I have gotten put together.  I have just placed my Fairy Tale unit on TPT.  We have such a great time with Fairy Tales!!  I have done these activities for several years.  I did add the diagraph activity and the place value activity.  My children LOVED them!!!

  This is such a fun unit.  We decorate our doorway so it seems that you are entering a castle.  My students think they are kings and queens! 

What great memories we are making!!!!

 

Opening a New School

   WOW!!  So far this has been an exciting and crazy year.  With 2 new elementary schools opening in our district, we (the teachers) have all had to make a decision on where we want to be for next year!  I love my school now, but I decided that I wanted to be a part of a new school opening.  I have been at GHES for 20 years now.  I am one of 2 teachers that are still here from when we opened.  It has been 20 (can’t believe it) of the most exciting years in my 27 years of teaching.  I have grown in so many ways.  All of the students, parents, teachers and administrators I have had such important roles with the growth and change.  I learn, grow and change every day.  Being a lifelong learner is one of my favorite parts of being in a teacher.

   Well…getting packed up and moved is going to be exciting, tiring and also sad.  I am hoping that once things settle down I will have more time to get back to my blog.  We still have to complete PO’s on items we will need, begin packing while finishing the year with all of the excitement and enthusiasm I expect from myself, clean the old classroom, move (whew!!), unpack and organize.  We are moving into rooms that are smaller and in 27 years I have certainly collected a lot of things that I think I MUST have in 27 years. J

  I know this is going to be an exciting end of the year.

I do have a few new units I have put together, but I just have not had time to get them on TPT.  I am going to begin working on getting them on TPT to share in my FREE time.

  Enjoy this ending of the year as it is coming our way so quickly!!!!

Making Memories!!

Becca

Winter

Wow!  I can’t believe we are ready for our winter unit.  How time flies when you are having fun!!!

We have already completed many activities including literacy, math and science!!  Wow, they love the science. 

  I have finally gotten my winter unit on TPT for other students to enjoy.  Here are a few of the items that are in my unit.  Also, take a look at my children and our first science experiment in this unit.

 

 Making Memories!!

Becca

 

 

 

Evergreens!!

As I sit at home, I still can’t get my mind off of school.  I am so excited about our upcoming Evergreen Unit!!  My children will so excited when they return from the Thanksgiving Holidays and we get started learning about evergreens.

I can’t believe we are this far into the school year!!

 

I just got it added to TPT so others can enjoy also!!  It will make your unit so easy to teach!!   Making Memories!! 

Becca